Family Affairs
by nurserachie2012
Summary: It would seem that everything has come together. Mia and Nicholas have married, Joe and Clarisse are finally together, and things are back to normal. Mia has begged Joe to come back into her security, both couples are happily together in one family household. But mother nature is putting a spanner in the works. Rating for future chapters.


Mending Broken Hearts.

The darkness in the security office felt quite oppressive when everyone had gone home and there was no rush of activity, no guards or officials coming in and out, no phones ringing, and no movement at all in fact. Some of the dark and empty desks were relatively tidy with the odd small pieces of paper with notes from various things sitting there; computers now off after the hard day's work. Files, folders, sticky notes and pens littered other desks, the owners obviously not as tidy as others in the large office space. Swivel chairs missing their owners, relegated to simply sitting on their wheels, lamenting the lack of bottom on their seats.

However, venturing to look further into the room towards the back, there was a slim slice of light coming out from underneath the closed door of the office of one Mr Joe Garcia. Head of Security, chauffeur, and loyal Puerto Rican with a love of food, the occasional cigar, and ultimately Queen Clarisse. At that moment said man was tapping away on his laptop, the report on the most recent security threat to Queen Mia and King Consort Nicholas needed to be finished. It seemed to him that the only way he got work done was to stay behind in the dark security unit rooms into the early hours. Sighing deeply, Joe rubbed a hand down his face and looked towards the clock on his office wall and noted the time. 11:30pm, and he still had way too far to go on the report to give up and go to bed now, despite knowing that Clarisse was waiting for him. Leaning back in his chair, he thought over the happenings of the last 6 months. After the wedding fiasco of Mia and Andrew and his surprise marriage to Clarisse, it had taken just 6 months after Mia's coronation for her and Nicholas to marry and she had begged him to stay in her security now. Everything was as it should be, both his girls had got their happily ever after. Smiling as he thought that life had finally sorted itself out, his right hand reached for the short glass of the beautifully coloured and expensive scotch that sat next to his laptop and brought it to his lips.

Just as the cool glass touched his lips he was seized by an intense pain in his chest that he had never experienced before and it instantly took his breath away. He couldn't stop his right hand from releasing the glass from his hand as he clutched his chest, overcome by the crushing sensation he felt, almost like someone was sat on his chest, instantly restricting his breathing and making him feel dizzy and disorientated. He leant forward in his chair and quickly tried to grip the edge of his wooden desk with his left hand in an attempt to steady himself in his chair but he found that his left arm and hand didn't appear to be listening to his brain and it too began to hurt.

Not usually one to become easily panicked, Joe couldn't stop it overtaking him at that moment, remembering that he was in a dark office, late at night and the only person who knew he was there, Clarisse, would be asleep by now. His breathing was becoming even more difficult now as panic had set in and he was beginning to feel incredibly short of breath. However, a moment of clarity came when he remembered that just 10 minutes ago he had used his desk phone and called Shades at his desk to order him to bed, Charlotte would only wait so long before she too would give up and go to bed without him. Hoping and praying that Shades had done what he usually did and ignored his request, he pulled his chair towards the edge of his desk. Reaching for his phone with his now painful left arm, he pulled the receiver off the cradle and pressed the number 1 which was Shades' speed dial number, and then the speaker phone button knowing he would not be able to hold the phone to his ear. Leaning heavily on his desk now, his right hand still clutching his painful chest he listened with bated breath for Shades' voice to come of the line, his world now becoming fuzzy as lack of oxygen and pain clouded his mind.

He was momentarily elated to hear Shades' voice over the phone and knew he'd come to help him. "I know Joe, I know. I should be with Charlotte; I'm going soon. I just wanted to get the reports done and Charlotte will understand." By the time Shades had stopped talking, Joe had needed to rest his head on his desk as his world was quickly disappearing into fuzz, hazy at best, and his vision wouldn't even allow him to see the phone on his desk anymore. Managing only a groan as the pain and breathlessness began to become too much, he heard the concerned response from John. "Joe? Are you ok? Joseph, answer me."

It was at that moment that Joe lost his fight to stay conscious. He felt the world disappear, a ringing in his ears and sudden nausea came over him and his body lost its ability to keep itself upright and sat in the chair. The fight was lost as he slipped from his chair to the right and into the floor; the thud of his body hitting the carpet was the only noise John heard on the other end of the phone. The dial tone was heard then and the speaker phone shut itself off as John slammed the receiver back on to the cradle.

...

John couldn't stop the slight panic as he heard the thud of what he knew must have been Joe's body hitting the carpeted floor of his office. An office that now seemed miles away as he shot out of her own black swivel chair and hurried around his desk and to his own office door. He was thanking whatever God was listening that he hadn't listened to Joe and gone to bed. He crept silently but quickly across the unit towards Joe's office, already pulling his gun from inside his jacket.

He continued to tread lightly through the silent unit towards Joe's office and the light coming out from under the door. Arriving at the door his back was to the wall, danger and thinking 'what if's' all the time had made him cautious. Reaching for the door knob and pushing the door open, he quickly turned in the open door way, his gun raised in case an intruder had injured Joe in getting into the palace. He frowned at not immediately seeing Joe anywhere, but then looking towards the floor near his desk he caught sight of what he recognised as a hand and walked quickly towards it. Rounding the side of the desk he saw Joe lying on his right side on the floor and John immediately knelt down next the prone body of his boss and friend, shaking him and shouting his name hoping he would respond. When no sound came from Joe, John picked up the phone, put it on speaker and dialled Charlotte's number, praying that she was still waiting up for him and berating himself for making her need to do it. Whilst the phone rang John held a hand to Joe's throat, praying to feel something under his fingers.

Feeling a pulse underneath his fingers, even if it was a very fast but slightly thread one, John couldn't help the thanks he gave the lord in his head, not wanting to be the one to break ay such news to Clarisse. Upon hearing Charlotte's voice on the speaker he thanked god for her. "Joseph, why are you calling me at midnight? If John is there please tell him that if he doesn't get his behind in this room soon he shall regret it!" Smiling slightly despite the situation, John said, "It's me Charlotte listen, I'm in Joe's office and he's not well. I don't know what the matter is but he's unconscious on the floor right now. I need you to help with this, we need to get an ambulance to him." Charlotte's response was exactly what John knew would happen, she hung up immediately and he knew she was calling an ambulance, then calling Scott the Gates Man who would meet the ambulance on arrival, and then once dressed she would call Mia and Clarisse.

John got up and pushed Joe's desk to one side of the room so he wasn't trapped behind it, and looked up immediately when he heard footsteps running down the carpeted floor outside the door. Within a second, Charlotte was jogging through the door, closely followed by Queen Mia both dressed in pyjamas and slippers. Charlotte was immediately listening to her ear piece, waiting for confirmation that the ambulance was on its way, whilst Mia got down on her knees next to Joe, tears beginning to come to her eyes. Waiting for the ambulance seemed to take an age but in reality they had probably only been waiting 2 -3 minutes. During her wait, Mia started to talk to Joe, her tears beginning to fall from her eyes and on to the carpet below. A groan from the body she was sitting next to made her jump and look up at John and Charlotte. "Joe! Joe its Mia can you hear me? Come on Joe, why are you on the floor? Will you get up if I call you Joey?" Everyone saw Joe's hand go straight to his chest in a clenching motion again as he became aware of the pain he was feeling when he returned to consciousness. Despite his obvious pain, everyone was relieved to see him awaken.

...

Returning to the land of awareness, Joe's immediate response was to groan as the pain in his chest and left arm became clear to him again. He was also developing a headache but he figured that was due to his head hitting the floor as he fell from his chair. He also became aware of another body on the floor with him, and someone speaking to him but through the haze the words were intelligible. His right hand returned to his chest again and it seemed his left one was not going to be any use to him. This awareness was improving and he could hear more than one voice in the room, recognising one as Queen Mia's but the others were a muddle.

Opening his eyes, Joe saw the definite shape of Mia sitting on the floor next to him, and he couldn't help but think it was ironic that she was now saving him after he had saved her not long ago. Ignoring the pain in his chest he looked up towards Mia, "Your Majesty, I apologise for this but I am unable to get up and behave properly". Mia smiled and looked down at him, "Joe you know that's not necessary. You can bow later on".

Smiling slightly through a grimace, Joe took a deep breath and asked, "Please don't call your grandmother. I don't want her to see me like this." Mia was about to respond when a voice behind her said, "Don't be so silly Joseph, the lady in question has seen you shot and bleeding". Joe looked up as the slightly swimming image of Clarisse came into his field of vision, still in her pale blue pyjamas but with a robe over the top. He was about to say something else but that that point they all heard rushed voices and the sounds of feet running towards the office they were all in. Two paramedics came rushing into the room pushing a stretcher with them, followed by Scot the Gate's Man who had lead them through the palace to the security. Mia moved out of the way so that the paramedics could get to Joe, and to go to Clarisse who was looking rather more rattled than her previous words seemed to suggest.

"Right Sir, I'm Alex," said one of the paramedics as he shuffled towards him on his knees. "I need to know what happened and where your problem is so that we can assess and treat you properly." Joe again took a deep breath and said, "Pain in my chest where my hand is, feels like someone is sitting on my chest. Left arm hurts too." Saying those two sentences seemed to have taken the wind out of him and he began to struggle for breath again, grimacing as a fresh wave of pain hit him. Alex the paramedic seemed to jump into action at Joe's words and pulled some equipment towards him.

Clarisse watched with a heavy feeling beginning to settle in her stomach as the paramedic behind Alex began pulling plastic and glass vials out of a drug bag, along with needles, syringes and other items. Alex now had a small oxygen cylinder in his hands that he was attaching clear tubing to and a mask which he then put over Joe's nose and mouth. Clarisse could hear the hiss of the oxygen as the dial on the cylinder was turned to the on position and then further round to increase the flow. "Right its Joe isn't it, ok listen Joe I think you're having a heart attack, but to be sure I need to attach a few stickers to your chest and then attach wires from this machine to them to check if I'm right ok. I need you to turn onto your back for me so that the machine can read the results properly."

Alex helped Joe turn on to his back so his head was now level on the floor. Clarisse was struggling herself seeing her strong and brave man suddenly so vulnerabe, and she couldn't help leaning against her granddaughter who had an arm around her telling her it would be ok. Tears leaked out of the side of her eyes and she quickly tried to wipe them away. She'd only had 6 months with him as her husband, she couldn't lose him now. He'd been shot 3 times protecting her after Rupert's death had caused some assignation attempts for the crown. The paramedic had begun to undo Joe's shirt buttons and undo his tie to gain access to his chest, showing some of the gunshot wounds he had sustained during his time in his job.

Alex made quick work of the black buttons of the Italian black dress shirt Joe wore and pushed the two sides aside. They all watched as Alex placed 8 stickers on to Joe's chest, one on each wrist and then one on each calf and then turned on the machine next him which immediately sprang to life with a bright heart rhythm trace on the dark screen. The paramedic's checked the rhythm, and Alex pressed a button on the front of the machine and a strip of pink and white paper came out of the front which the heart tracing on it.

Alex checked the paper and nodded turning to Joe, but talking to everyone in the room "It looks like I was right Joe, this is a heart attack. What I need to do is to get a needle in to your arm just in case I need to give you any medication. I'm also going to give you a medication now that should ease some of your discomfort ok. It is a little spray bottle called GTN. It needs to be sprayed under your tongue so if you could open your mouth and lift your tongue up I can give it to you." Joe did as he was asked and the paramedic sprayed twice under his tongue and then told him to close his mouth and to let them know if it helped the pain. The other paramedic meanwhile had rolled up Joe's shirt sleeve and was tying a tourniquet around Joe's left bicep, feeling the inside of his elbow.

Picking up what looked like a needle attached to a plastic holder he said, "Joe, I'm Jesse and I'm going to put that needle that Alex mentioned into your left arm, I need you to keep still for me while I do it ok." At Joe's nod, the paramedic inserted the needle into Joe's arm and placed a dressing over it to secure it in place. Joe mumbled something into the mask that was over his nose and mouth so Alex bent forwards and asked him to repeat it. "Oh good, the spray is helping, that does tell us that again this is what i believe to be a heart attack," and Alex noted this on the notes he had been keeping on a large sheet of paper.

He looked at everyone and said, "Right, I'm going to need some details from you about Joe's usual condition and such. I assume someone is coming to the hospital with us as I think he's going to need someone who knows him to come." Charlotte nodded and looked at Clarisse, who nodded that she would go with Joe, and John said he would too. Alex then looked at Joe, "Joe we need to get you on to our stretcher ok, so we'll lower it to the floor. Do you think if we all helped, you'd be able to get into it?" At an affirmative nod from Joe, Jesse the other paramedic brought the trolley slowly to them and lowered it as low as it would go. With the assistance of the two paramedic's and John, Joe was on it in 10 seconds. The trolley was raised again as Joe was strapped in and the group went through the security office towards the stairs. John collected Joe's phone and wallet on the way out of his office and placed them in his own jacket pocket. Alex and Jesse carried Joe down the stairs, as many of the palace's footman and other staff watched from their stations, many looking worried as one of their own was carried out towards the waiting ambulance.


End file.
